In the web of the President of Chuvaquia, in
www.cap.ru I see the
flag of Chuvaquia, and it is clearly red and yellow,
not purple.Jordi Pérez, 21 Oct 1997

I had the chance of visit Chuvashia in 1996 and I
can confirm that those are the coulors used, and not
brown, marroon, buff or violet, as often stated.
In all Cheboksary public buildings and souvenir
stores all one can see is red stripes and
“Tree of Life” and 3 8-pointed stars in red, pure,
normal, average "R"-red,
on a yellow background.
“Normal” locals — i.e., non-vexillologists, hadn’t
ever heard about any other color.António Martins, 21 Nov 1996

I was in Chuvashia for the first time (first of many) in
early 1996 and later even lived there for one year and a half
(1998.12.26-2000.07.26). So, I know quite well how the flag of
Chuvashia looks like. Discussing the etimology of Russian
"пурпурний"
and the true depiction of heraldic "purpure" is surely
interesting. (F.i., Chuvash local
coats of arms have a small canton with the flag design on it
and it is hatched in Pectra Sancta
for purpure, ▨ — see Marinskiĭ
Posad for one; its canton do not shows on the flag, by the
way.) But the Chuvash flag is red and that’s that.
It is hard to believe that between 1992, when the Chuvash flag
was adopted, and 1996, when I saw it for the first time in
loco, red as an apple in the snowy landscape, nobody else in the
international vexillological scene had even noticed the mistake. (I
recieved a small handwaver from a Chuvash friend in 1994 or something
and after checking flag books I humbly though that it was
mismanufactored…)António Martins, 28 Aug 2004

Official law and unofficial translation

Article 2 of these
Regulations gives the description of the state
flag as follows: «2. The National flag
of the Chuvash Republic is a rectangular panel with the
ratio of sides 5:8, divided horizontally with yellow
above and purple below.»Jos Poels, 21 Nov 1996

If every non-Russian vexillologist depicts the
Chuvashian flag as purple, if even the Chuvash
flag law state it is "purple", how come all the
flags in Chuvashia are red?…
The official law was published by the republic
grovernment in a nice trilingual color booklet
in chuvash, russian and english
[pvu95]:
The National Emblem of the Chuvash Republic.
The title mistake ("emblem" instead of "symbols")
should warn us about the translation quality of
this book, but…
Anyway, the (unofficial?) introductory text (page 4) reads:

(CVS paragraph 3, line 2)

«… тӗксӗм
хӗрлӗ
тӗсле …»
«… tĕksĕm qĕrlĕ tĕsle… »

(RUS paragraph 2, line 9)

«… Пурпурный
(темно-красный) …»
«… Purpurnyĭ (temno-krasnyĭ)… »

(ENG paragraph 2, line 6)

«The purple (dark red) colour …»

And, on page 19, a quote from the official bilingual
(chuvash and russian) text (approved 1992.04.29)
along with an english version states:

(CVS paragraph 3, line 2)

«… тӗксӗм
хӗрлӗ
(пурпур
тӗсле)…»
«… tĕksĕm qĕrlĕ
(purpur tĕsle)… »

(RUS paragraph 2, line 9)

«… пурпуровое …»
«… purpurovoe… »

(ENG paragraph 2, line 6)

«… purple …»

So, there’s a clear confusion here. The usual meaning
of the word "purple" in english is not at all "dark
red"! Of course the whole thing is highly subjective,
as often refered, but "purple" (along with "fuchsia",
"magenta", "violet", "pink", "lilac", "bordeaux", and
God knows…) is a color “between” red and blue —
never a shade of red, no matter how dark…
The booklet includes all annexes of
the law, including a colour plate
(page 3) of which is said that flags «must always
be identical in colour and design to the patterns
appended to this Statute.» (In fact, the colour
used in the booklet is not the “swiss army knife
red” I found at use, but a lighter shade, maybe
“grenat”. This could be a typographical error —
not the only one in this booklet…)António Martins, 6 Sep 1997

What is "purple" in Russian?

Then I decided to make an experiment. I grabed
a handful of objects clearly red and other of purple
ones, and then asked Russians and Chuvashs
«What is this color?»…
The red ones, ranging from a Marlboro cigarrette
pack to a Swiss Army knife,
were imediately classified as "krasnyĭ". After some
insistence, the swiss army knife could be called
"temno-krasnyĭ". And then I’d ask: «Could it be
"purpurnyĭ"?» and most would hesitate and concede
a yes.
The purple ones, after some hesitation, were said to be
"fioletovyĭ" or "malinovyĭ". Most people
would confess that the differences between those words are not
very definite, only maybe in the head of graphical artists.
And then I’d ask: «But could any of these [the purple ones]
be "purpurnyĭ"?» And every interviewed person,
even already color confused, would imediately say:
«No, not at all! Definitely not
"purpurnyĭ"!».
The final question was «Apart from yellow, what’s
the colour of your flag?». Not a single person
replyed spontaneasly with "purpurnyĭ"! Everybody would
say "krasnyĭ", rarely "temno-krasnyĭ" (or theyr
chuvash equivalents), and when I asked «Is it
"purpurnyĭ"?» they would hesitatingly reply
«Yes, but… that’s not an often word…»,
and even one chuvash speaker was surprised to learn that
the very word "purpur" exists in chuvash…
Careful direct observation of a large number of flags
hoisted in public places and goverment buildings metal
plates in Ĉeboksary |
Чебоксары /
Ŝupaŝkar | Шупашкар,
Novoĉeboksarsk |
Новочебоксарск,
Alatyr | Алатыр
and Kanaŝ | Канаш
shown that the color used matches
almost precisely with the shade of (dark) red in the
handle of a so called Swiss Army knife (original
Victorinox brand).António Martins, 6 Sep 1997

Conclusions

The chuvash word "purpur" and the russian word
"purpurnyĭ", both used in the official discription
of the flag, do not mean "purple", in its
usual english meaning. Correct translation of
"purple" to russian would be "fioletovyĭ".
The unofficialenglish translation
of the text is therefore wrongly translated.António Martins, 06 Sep 1997